I've never heard of eye transplants ? Like when they say give up an eye do they mean the actual eyeball itself ? Or is there something not being said here ?
It is possible to do cornea transplants, but that's it. It is also unlikely that the parents would have to donate these corneas, as they come from deceased donors. Since a cornea transplant is one of the most common transplant procedures (~100,000 a year), it is unlikely that the parents would have to donate their own corneas for the procedure (even if they were allowed to).
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( source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corneal_transplantation )
That's what I was thinking too. Only corneal transplants are possible. I think this is a case where both the parents and the media are misinformed about what's possible. Or possibly the parents saying they would each happily give up an eye for the child, and the media thinking it was an actual option.
(After searching the internet for more info, I wasn't able to find an actual diagnosis or what treatment the boy would receive. Speculation is that it's a retinal-blastoma, or a tumor in the retina of the eye.)
It's just one part of the eye but that one part is very important. By giving up that one part the baby can see but they can't see (out of that eye). So they kind of did and didn't give up an eye.
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( source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corneal_transplantation )
(After searching the internet for more info, I wasn't able to find an actual diagnosis or what treatment the boy would receive. Speculation is that it's a retinal-blastoma, or a tumor in the retina of the eye.)